By V. E. K. Madhushani, Jadetimes News
Survivor Shares Painful Memories of Brutal Atrocities in Zimbabwe
An astounding number of mass graves surround Thabani Dhlamini’s home in southwestern Zimbabwe. One, pointed out near the ablution block at a primary school in the village of Salankomo in Tsholotsho district, holds the bodies of teachers killed and dumped there in the 1980s. Another, steps away from Mr. Dhlamini’s house, contains the remains of 22 relatives and neighbors, all killed by Zimbabwe’s military under the command of then leader Robert Mugabe.
Mr. Dhlamini, who was just 10 years old at the time, remains haunted by the memories. “We were not able [to talk about it] and we were in fear to speak about it,” the 51 year old farmer said.
The victims were casualties of ethnic killings between 1983 and 1987, when Mugabe unleashed the North Korean trained Five Brigade in strongholds of his arch rival Joshua Nkomo. Some describe what followed as a genocide, with estimates suggesting over 20,000 people died. Nkomo, a veteran freedom fighter from Matabeleland, is still fondly remembered as “Father Zimbabwe” more than two decades after his death.
The two leaders had a fractious relationship during the liberation struggle against white minority rule. Nkomo came from Zimbabwe's Ndebele minority and Mugabe from the Shona majority. Their rift deepened two years after independence in 1980, when Mugabe fired Nkomo from the coalition government, accusing his party of plotting a coup. Operation Gukurahundi was launched, ostensibly as a counter insurgency mission to root out dissidents attacking civilians. The elite soldiers targeted mainly the Ndebele ethnic group in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces, sowing seeds of lingering ethnic tensions.
Mugabe ruled for another three decades. Only after he was deposed by his former deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, did it seem that Gukurahundi might be properly addressed, though Mnangagwa himself has been accused of involvement. He made a point of addressing reconciliation, but initiatives for exhumations and reburials have faltered.
Seven years into his presidency, Mnangagwa established the Gukurahundi Community Engagement Programme, which includes village level hearings for survivors to air their grievances. Mr. Dhlamini plans to participate, saying, “I want to free myself from what I witnessed. I need to vent out what I felt.”
In 1983, Mr. Dhlamini and other boys from his village witnessed soldiers march 22 women, including his mother, into a hut and set it on fire. When the women broke down the door to flee, they were gunned down. Mr. Dhlamini’s mother survived by hiding. The soldiers then forced older boys to carry the bodies into the smoking hut, and one boy, wearing a pin supporting Nkomo, was also killed.
Today, the remains still lie in the ruins, marked by crosses and a whitewashed brick wall with the names of the dead. “When we started talking about it my memory returns and it seems as if it had happened today. It makes me feel as if I can cry,” Mr. Dhlamini said. His mother, traumatized, never returned to the village.
Survivors and families are divided over the new government initiative's potential for healing. In Silonkwe, Julia Mlilo, 77, recalls escaping into the bush with her family during the 1983 massacre, only to return to find her father and over 20 relatives burned beyond recognition. “Only the heads were identifiable,” she said.
Despite the skepticism, many victims and their families will participate in the hearings. However, Tsholotsho remains underdeveloped, with little infrastructure and progress over the last 40 years. Findings from previous inquiries into the atrocities remain unpublished, adding to the mistrust.
Mbuso Fuzwayo from the local pressure group Ibhetshu LikaZulu believes Zimbabwe is not ready to confront its past, noting the theft and destruction of commemorative plaques as evidence. The country’s history of human rights abuses and impunity stretches back to the white minority government of Rhodesia.
“We have a lot of violations of the people. What happened during the liberation struggle is that there was no one who was brought to justice,” Mr. Fuzwayo said. “After the genocide no one was taken to justice.”
President Mnangagwa’s sincerity will be tested by whether the hearings reveal the truth and involve perpetrators providing answers to survivors. Chief Khulumani Mathema from Gwanda North believes the process is flawed, arguing for an international approach to addressing genocides. “There’s no single genocide that has ever been completely solved when the perpetrators are still in charge of the levers of power,” he said.
Mr. Fuzwayo, whose grandfather was allegedly abducted and never seen again during the massacres, concurs. “They must not try to say this was a Mugabe thing. It was a collective thing,” he said. Despite Mnangagwa's denials of involvement, communities prioritize exhumations and proper burials, coupled with truth telling about the atrocities and the whereabouts of the disappeared.
This inquiry will challenge Mnangagwa’s commitment to justice. “Up to today we don’t know why the people were killed the motive,” Mr. Fuzwayo said. “And they don’t want to talk about it and I still believe that they have got a lot that they are hiding.”
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